Incredibly Sharp Webb Space Telescope Test Images Hint at New Possibilities for Science
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is aligned across all four of its science instruments, as seen in a previous engineering image showing the observatory’s full…
Spitzer Space Telescope
“Space Butterfly” Is Actually a Nursery for Hundreds of Baby Stars
What looks like a red butterfly in space is in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image from NASA’s…
NASA Spots Gigantic Debris Cloud Created by Clashing Celestial Bodies
Major smashups between rocky bodies shaped our solar system. Observations of a similar crash give clues about how frequent these events are around other stars….
Hot Jupiter Exoplanet Provides New Insights Into Seasons on a Planet Outside Our Solar System
Observations of a hot Jupiter may also advance our understanding of planet origins and evolution. Imagine being in a place where the winds are so…
Scores of Baby Stars Revealed in the Orion Constellation
Scores of baby stars shrouded by dust are revealed in this infrared image of the star-forming region NGC 2174, as seen by NASA’s Spitzer Space…
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Illuminates Exoplanets
The infrared observatory may help answer questions about planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, including how they form and what drives weather in their…
Godzilla Nebula: A “Monster” Star-Forming Region Spied by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope
Just like clouds on Earth, clouds of gas and dust in space can sometimes resemble familiar objects, or even popular movie creatures. Do you see…
A Cosmic Powder Keg: When a Stable Star Explodes
The supernova remnant G344.7-0.1 is across the Milky Way about 19,600 light years from Earth. It belongs to a class of supernovas called “Type Ia”…
Hidden Supernova: Stars Are Exploding in Dusty Galaxies – We Just Can’t Always See Them
Exploding stars generate dramatic light shows. Infrared telescopes like Spitzer can see through the haze and to give a better idea of how often these…
“Failed Stars” Caught Speeding: Astronomers Clock the Fastest-Spinning Brown Dwarfs
Astronomers at Western University have discovered the most rapidly rotating brown dwarfs known. They found three brown dwarfs that each complete a full rotation roughly…
New Worlds in a River of Young Stars Discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
Using observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a trio of hot worlds larger than Earth orbiting…
3D Map of Cosmic Neighborhood Created With Help From Worldwide Network of Citizen Scientists
Scientists tapped into the worldwide network of volunteers using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 to map dozens of new brown dwarfs, or balls gas not heavy…
Stellar Snowflake Cluster Spotted by Spitzer Space Telescope
Newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust, are revealed in this image of a section of the so-called Christmas Tree Cluster from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope….
Chaos Swirls at the Heart of the Orion Nebula
Gaseous swirls of hydrogen, sulfur, and hydrocarbons cradle a collection of infant stars in this composite image of the Orion Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space…
Perplexing 16-Year-Old Cosmic Mystery Solved, Revealing Stellar Missing Link
The Blue Ring Nebula, which perplexed scientists for over a decade, appears to be the youngest known example of two stars merged into one. In…
Highly Unusual “Hot Neptune” Exoplanet 260 Light Years Away That “Shouldn’t Exist”
A team led by an astronomer from the University of Kansas has crunched data from NASA’s TESS and Spitzer space telescopes to portray for the…
First Possible “Survivor” Planet Discovered by NASA Next to a Stellar Cinder
The violent events leading up to the death of a star would likely drive away any planets. The newly discovered Jupiter-size object may have arrived…
NASA’s Spitzer Spies a Massive Star Factory – 2 Quadrillion Miles Across
The most massive stars in the universe are born inside cosmic clouds of gas and dust, where they leave behind clues about their lives for…
